There’s no guarantee the voting map Franklin County wants will be what it gets

When it comes to creating new voting districts in Franklin County, citizens need to prepare themselves.

There is no guarantee that the map they prefer will be the map they get.

That’s because the decision will be made by a Superior Court judge — not their elected county leaders. And any map that doesn’t pass legal muster is going to be tossed.

A public meeting is planned Monday, Nov. 15 at 7 pm at Robinson Elementary School in Pasco to gather more public comment on this issue.

This will be the fourth public hearing on redistricting, and it is important that people’s voices are heard.

But judging by comments made at previous commission meetings, several upset citizens don’t fully understand the dilemma.

Now that the county is in litigation, the rules are stricter and the power belongs to the courts.

The people can have their say, but their thoughts on this matter will only go so far.

Three local members of the League of United Latin American Citizens with the help from the UCLA Voting Rights Project have sued Franklin County for violating the Washington Voting Rights Act. The contention is that the county’s current voting system weakens the Latino vote.

Latinos make up 53 percent of the Franklin County population.

The plaintiffs claim that the county’s voting boundaries split up precincts where most Latinos live, and that their vote is further diluted by countywide voting in the general election.

Judging by discussion at other commission meetings, people are frustrated by the lack of local control on this issue.

They don’t understand how an outside group from California can force Franklin County to change how its commissioners are elected.

Some particularly vocal citizens have encouraged the commissioners to fight back.

What many citizens may not realize is that Yakima tried to do just that when it was sued by the ACLU in 2012 for violating the federal Voting Rights Act.

Yakima City Council members took their case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and they lost.

In the end, the legal battle cost Yakima $3 million, and it was forced to adopt a district-only voting system anyway.

After Yakima, the ACLU sued Pasco for the same voting violations.

Seeing the futility of challenging the suit, Pasco city officials wisely complied and worked with the plaintiffs to change its voting system before it dragged through the courts, resulting in one at-large city council seat and the other six determined by single districts.

As it happens, that was the plan Pasco wanted and got. The ACLU wanted seven separate voting districts, no at-large seats and no citywide voting.

So there is hope that a map submitted by Franklin County could be accepted if it meets all the legal requirements.

In addition, Yakima County also was sued for not complying with voting rights laws.

Instead of challenging the suit, Yakima County Commissioners acknowledged their current election system wouldn’t hold up in court.

A settlement was approved just last month in Kittitas County Superior Court among them and OneAmerica and the Campaign Legal Center — two groups that had sued Yakima County for violating the state Voting Rights Act.

The voting boundaries were redrawn and citizens can now only vote for the commissioner in their district.

Franklin County officials and citizens should take note of what happened in Yakima and in Pasco and realize they are in the same situation.

Their best bet is to work with the plaintiffs and bring a map to the judge that both sides can live with. This is an issue that needs to be resolved at the Superior Court level.

Going beyond that just isn’t worth the expense.